Decorating and decorated leather



Sept. 13, 1938.

W. H. BARRETT DECORATING AND DEGORATED LEATHER Filed May 28, 1934 4 INVENTOR BY M1- ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 13, 1938 UNITED STATES DECORATING AND DECORATED LEATHER William H. Barrett, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Leather Designs Incorporated, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application May 28, 1934, Serial No. 727,889

19 Claims.

My invention relates to decorating and decorated leather and leather-like materials.

Primarily, I emboss the leather to cause areas to stand in relief and thus segregated from the remaining areas of the side of the leather from which the reliefs project; the areas thus raised in relief are the areas to be treated in the production of the desired ornamentation, or the areas to be treated differently from the remaining areas. I then treat the leather surface, and particularly the relief areas, in any way that the desired ornamentation may require; I may treat only the reliefs, the embossment permitting these raised areas to be treated alone readily; I may use a surface treatment, that is to say a treatment of a kind that would affect the whole surface if the surface were flat, but which is of such a character or is so used that it affects only the segregated reliefs; in the alternative, I may use a surface treatment that is of such a character or is so used that both the relief areas and intaglio areas of the leather are affected by it, but-are affected differently due to their relatively different positions. I then subject the leather to a liquid to more or less (as desired) restore the leather distorted by the embossing to its initial condition, usually by roughly tumbling the treated leather in a liquid. Subsequently, the leather may be further finished, as to soften it, soften its appearance, etc.

As will be apparent, any one of various treatments may be used in forming the design as the nature of the desired design or ornamentation may require. However, my invention is especially, or further, adapted to the production of embossed leather. Describing it further in connection with the production of embossed leather:

As is well known, embossings made by the commercial processes heretofore used tend to disappear if subjected to wetting, lasting, etc. My invention however provides a commercial or industrial form of embossing that resists wetting, subsequent working of the leather such as lasting, etc. In general, the embossing of my invention is substantially indestructible except by the destruction of the leather. My invention also provides an embossing in which the intaglio or sunken portions of the design may have a suede-like surface. Either the grain or the fiesh side of the skin can be embossed by my invention.

Prior to my invention the industrial practice of embossing was to press onto the leather a plate or roller engraved with a negative of the design. As a result, those portions of the final design that were to be in intaglio were driven down into 'bossed design I shown in Fig. 1 will suffice.

the leather surface and the relief portions were left raised. According to my invention the first part of the embossing operation is the direct opposite of this. The portions of the design to be in relief are driven or otherwise forced down into the leather surface and the portions intended to be in intaglio are left in relief initially. The surface of the leather thus initially embossed is thencut away more or less to approximately the bottoms of .the depressions and thereafter the compacted portions of the leather (made by driving the reliefs of the design into the'surface) are caused or allowed to swell or expand, say under the influence of moisture, thus restoring the compacted areas to more or less of their initial density and thereby raising these portions into relief. The whole of the leather may indeed be restored to its initial uniform density throughout, and since the intaglios thus produced are produced by the actual removal of leather, the final embossment is permanent; neither subsequent working of the leather piece as a whole, nor swelling it by wetting or contacting it by drying can remove the embossing or destroy the relief. .To give the bottoms of the sunken or incised portions of the design a suedelike surface, I use a bufiing operation either to cut away the initially embossed surface or to buifthis surface after the cutting.

The invention can be explained in more detail by reference to the accompanying drawing. Fig. 1 illustrates a piece of leather embossed by my invention. Fig 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of an'embossing'roll such as may be used to produce the design of Fig. 1. illustrate diagrammatically three successive steps in the operation, a piece of leather being shown in section.

For illustrative purposes, the very simple cm- This design consists simply of a diamond 2 rising from Figs. 3, 4 and 5 or in relief on the surface of the skin. As apv mercially it can be done by a positive of the pattern, for example a plate or roll 3 carrying a similar diamond 4 projecting in relief from the surface of the plate or roll (Fig. 2) exactly as it is to appear on the finished leather. With such a roll for example, the. piece of leather is laid against a firm ground and the roll is passed over it (Fig. 3) with enough pressure to sink the diamond into the leather to a, sufficient depth to secure that degree of compacting of the leather beneath the bars of the diamond that is needed to secure the ultimate projection of the diamond from the leather surface desired, as will be understood from what follows hereafter. In Figs. 3 and 4 the compacting of the leather beneath a part of one bar of the diamond is indicated at 5.

A negative of the design having thus been formed on the leather, more or less of its surface is then cut away, usually to a level about even with the bottoms of the depressions. In Fig. 4 the broken lines indicate the amount of leather usually cut away; compare Fig. 4 with Fig. 3. The leather to be cut away may be removed by bufiing or otherwise; when removed by buffing, or when the surface is buffed after cutting, the bottoms of the intaglio or sunken portions of the final product are left roughened and hence have a suede-like effect.

The leather having thus been cut or re-surfaced, the compacted portions are permitted or caused to expand again until these portions again have, say, the same density as the remainder of the piece. The result is that the portions of the design depressed into the leather surface by the initial depressing or embossing rise'to say their initial levels and thus appear in relief in the final product (Figs. 5 and 1). The swelling can be done by subjecting the leather to any swelling agent not adversely affecting the leather for its intended purposes. Conceivably the swelling agent or some part of it may be present in or applied to the leather even prior to the initial embossing, but I contemplate that usually it will be applied only after the surface is cut away. Usually I use moisture for the purpose; plain water is satisfactory for most leathers. Since I usually do the initial embossing on a rather dry leather, I usually swell the compacted portions into relief by thoroughly wetting the leather in water after completing the step of cutting away the surface; usually by roughly tumbling the leather in the swelling liquid, as by, for example, paddling the leather in water for sufficient time to restore the piece to a uniform density.

After the final embossment is thus secured (e. g., Fig. 1) the leather can be further finished as desired, as will be apparent.

When the initial reliefs are produced on the grain side of the leather and these are cut away in the manner described or an analogous manner, grain-leather is produced in which the surface of the design is below that of the remaining grain surface (e. g., is below the grain surfaces left on the diamond 2), and when the cutting- .away is done or followed by bufiing or an analogous surfacing treatment, grain leather integral and in relief upon suede leather is produced, the remaining grain and the suede normally being, respectively, of lighter and darker shades of the color of the leather.

It will be understood that my invention is not limited to the specific operations and details mentioned above except as appears hereinafter in the claims.

I claim:

1. The steps in embossing leather and leatherlike materials, which consists in embossing the material with a negative or reverse of the desired design by a material-compacting operation, and then removing some of the surface thus produced.

2. The method of embossing leather and leather-like materials, which consists in producing on the material a negative or reverse of the desired design by a material-compacting operation and thereafter removing some of the surface thus produced, and also subjecting the material to a swelling agent, either prior to or after the step of removing some of the surface, the step of removing some of the surface being performed before the swelling agent can again equalize the density of the material throughout the piece.

3. The subject matter of claim 1, characterized by the. fact that the step of removing some of the surface includes buffing the surface, whereby a suede-like effect is produced on the intaglio portions of the final embossment.

4. The method of embossing leather, which consists in compressing the leather by a pattern carrying a positive of the desired design thereby compacting the leather at those portions of it that are to appear in relief in the final embossment, then removing some of the surface thus initially embossed, and then subjecting the leather to a swelling agent to cause said compacted portions to expand and appear in relief.

5. The subject matter of claim 4, characterized by the fact that the leather is subjected to the swelling agent to the extent of again rendering the leather of. substantially uniform density throughout.

6. The subject matter of claim 4, characterized by the fact that the step of removing some of the surface includes buffing whereby a suede-like effect is produced on the intaglio portions of the final embossment.

'7. A process of producing decorated leather comprising the steps of treating areas of the leather to ornament the same, immersing the leather in liquid and roughly tumbling it therein, and finishing the leather to soften its appearance.

8. A process of producing decorated leather comprising the steps of embossing the leather, treating the raised portions .of the embossed leather tocontrast them with the depressed portions, immersing the embossed treated leather in a liquid and roughly tumbling it therein to destroy the embossing, and finishing the leather to soften its appearance.

9. Grain-leather having portions of its grain surface removed to form a design, the surface of said design being below that of the remaining grain surface.

10. Grain leather of a light shade of one color integralwith and in relief upon suede leather of a dark shade of the same color, the two co-operating in forming an ornamentation.

ll. In'the production of ornamented leather, the process which consists in the steps of embossing the leather to cause areas to be treated in forming the ornamentation to stand in relief and thus segregated from the remaining portions A said side of the leather and thus segregated from the remaining portion of the said side of the leather, removing said die from the leather, applying a surface treatment to said side of the leather as a whole in a manner to treat only said segregated areas standing in relief, and subjecting the leather to a liquid to at least in part restore the parts of the leather distorted by the pressing operation to its initial condition.

13. In the production of ornamented leather, the process which consists in the steps of embossing the leather to cause areas to be treated to stand in relief and thus segregated from the remaining portion of the same side of the leather, treating the areas standing in relief to contrast them with the depressed portions, and then immersing the leather in a liquid to thoroughly wet the leather.

14. In the production of ornamented leather, the process which consists in the steps of pressing the leather with one side thereof against a die carrying a design to cause areas to be treated in forming the ornamentation to stand in relief at said side of the leather and thus segregated from the remaining portions of the said side of the leather, removing said die from the leather, applying a surface treatment to said side of the leather as a whole in a manner to treat only said segregated areas standing in relief, treating the leather with a liquid to thoroughly wet the leather, and finishing the leather.

15. In a leather ornamenting process, the steps of bumng off portions of the grain surface of grain leather and leaving the remaining portions of the grain surface intact, and placing said remaining grain surface portions in relief upon said buffed portions, producing grain leather in relief upon suede leather.

16. Grain leather integral with and in relief upon suede leather, the two cooperating in forming an ornamentation.

1'7. Grain-leather having portions of its grain surface removed to form a design, the surface of said design being below that of the remaining grain surface, said leather having its flesh side unfinished.

18. Grain leather of a light shade of one color integral with and in relief upon suede leather of a dark shade of the same color, the two cooperating in forming an ornamentation, the flesh side of said leather being unfinished.

19. The method of decorating leather which comprises, as steps, compressing the grain side of the leather by a pattern carrying a positive of the desired design; thereby compacting the leather at those portions of it which are to appear in relief in the final product, thereafter buffing some of the grain surface from those portions of the leather which are left standing in relief by said compressing, and thereafter subjecting the leather to a swelling agent to cause the said compacted portions to expand and to appear in relief, thus producing grain leather in relief upon suede leather.

WILLIAM H. BARRETT. 

